The present invention relates generally to baby strollers or carriages and to a support for attachment to the center rail of the stroller handle from which objects can be hung.
Strollers and carriages for transporting infants are well-known. They are commonly used during various outings, such as shopping or running errands The stroller or carriage has a front compartment in which the infant is placed and a rear portion from which a handle structure extends. The handle structure has a pair of spaced upwardly extending side rails with a center rail connected at the side rail upper ends. The user wheels the stroller or carriage by pushing on the center rail. All of this is well-known.
It is desirable to provide a degree of convenience to the user when he or she not only has to push the infant in the carriage or stroller but also has to carry other objects, such as bags filled with various items. It would be desirable to be able to transport the bag or other object as part of the stroller or carriage itself so that the user""s hands would be totally free to manipulate the stroller and unencumbered so as to be able to attend to the infant passenger. However, it is usually unwise from the point of view of safety to place such bag or objects in the stroller or carriage compartment in which the infant is located.
Attempts have been made to provide various types of attachments to solve this problem. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,183 shows an elongated bar having a width equal to the distance between the stroller handle two upwardly extending side rails. Brackets provided at the ends of the bar are fastened to the handle side rails. The bar extends rearwardly of the handle structure and one or more hooks are provided on the portion of the bar that faces the user. Objects are to be hung from these hooks. This structure has an overall disadvantage in that is relatively complicated, requiring a mechanical bracket for fastening each end of the bar to a handle upwardly extending side rail. This also makes it somewhat difficult to mount the bar to and detach it from the handle. Also, the hooks that face the user are exposed and thereby could provide a hazard when using the stroller or carriage.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,175 a support assembly is provided having a portion which is to be mounted to the stroller handle center rail. In this unit, the attachment portion determines the width of the part of the assembly that is available for purposes of supporting objects. This assembly is relatively complicated both in structure and manner of attachment.
The present invention is directed to a support that is to be attached to the center rail of the handle structure of a stroller or carriage. The support has an elongated bar that is suspended from the center rail and hangs parallel to it. Objects, such as the hoops of a bag handle can be looped over the bar and held by it. The support has one or more hooks, preferably of a type that can be snap fit over the handle center rail, to hang it from the center rail. In one embodiment, the support has two bars that are parallel to each other with a space between the two. A bag has fasteners on a flap and the bag front panel. The bag flap is passed through the space between the bars over the bottom bar and the fasteners brought together to secure the flap to the bag panel. This hangs the bag from the support, which in turn is hung from the stroller handle center rail. A bag with a flap in sections also is provided to be used with a support having only one bar.
The support is easy to attach to and remove from the handle center rail. It also leaves the handle center rail relatively unobstructed so that the user has no difficulty in pushing the stroller. Since the ends of the bar are not connected to any part of the stroller handle structure, it is easy to hang an object from the support.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a support device to be attached to the center rail of a stroller handle to support objects hung therefrom.
Another object is to provide a support for use with a stroller and a tote type bag that can be hung from the support by use of mating fasteners on the flap and the bag body.
An additional object is to provide a novel tote type bag that can be supported from the generally horizontal bar of a support attached to the center rail of a stroller handle.
A further object is to provide a support having a bar on which object are to be hung, the support being mounted to the center rail of a handle structure with the bar below and generally parallel to the center rail.
Yet another object is to provide a support from which objects can be hung with the support being easily attached to or removed from the stroller handle center rail.